The invention relates to a valve mechanism for a medium, in particular for a gaseous medium of an airbag and a method for operating such a valve mechanism.
Protective means comprising airbags are known. These airbags constitute protective means that can be inflated with air and unfold in case of an accident-related force impact of the motor car, thereby protecting the occupants from collision with, for example, the steering wheel or side inner regions of the motor car. Furthermore, airbags with lattice-like structures are known, wherein smaller volumes are to be filled with air. These lattice-like structures form an inner chamber that is optionally surrounded by a shell, into which ambient air must flow as rapidly as possible in order to achieve a very good protective effect.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a valve mechanism for a medium, in particular for a gaseous medium of an airbag, an airbag and a method for operating a valve mechanism for a medium, in particular for a gaseous medium of an airbag, which facilitate a particularly rapid through-flow or inflow of the medium.
A valve mechanism according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention for a medium, in particular for a gaseous medium of an airbag, comprises a first layer and a second layer that respectively comprise at least one passage opening, the passage openings being at least substantially closed, in a closed position of the valve mechanism, by a corresponding cover region of the other respective layer. The valve mechanism according to the invention also comprises at least one adjusting element, in particular a tube element that can be adjusted in its volume, by means of which, in an at least temporary passage position of the valve mechanism, at least one of the cover regions of the corresponding layer can be lifted at least in areas from the corresponding passage opening. Accordingly, the respective cover region and optionally adjacent regions of the corresponding layer can be lifted from the passage opening to be covered in the closed position of the valve mechanism and possibly from adjacent regions, whereby in the corresponding flow direction of the medium the medium can flow through the valve mechanism or the passage openings particularly well.
If, for example, the adjusting element is the tube element that can be adjusted in its volume, the lifting can be managed by, for example, enlarging the volume of the tube element, in particular by inflation, from a first position, in which it has a minimum volume and possibly an at least substantially equal thickness to that of the corresponding layer. This volume enlargement can thereby take place using, for example, an explosion-like gas discharge, with which the tube element is impacted. Due to the fact that the layers overlap at least in areas, the lifting arises through the volume enlargement of the tube element, whereby the passage openings and thus the valve mechanism can be flowed through particularly well, i.e., in a particularly short time with a particularly high mass or quantity of the medium.
The invention also includes an airbag with an inventive valve mechanism. As described above, such an airbag is a means that must carry out a particularly large volume enlargement in a particularly short time so as to offer maximum protection for occupants of a motor car, thus so that the occupants do not collide with components of the motor car, for example with the steering wheel. The inventive valve mechanism thereby facilitates a particularly rapid filling of a corresponding inner space and/or a container, in particular an air sack, of the airbag with the medium, in particular with air, whereby the airbag can carry out a particularly high volume enlargement in a particularly short time period in order to maximize the protection of the occupants.
Such an airbag is, for example, a so-called lattice-like bag, whereby it is not a very large airbag but instead merely a lattice-like structure of tube elements that is inflated, whereby this lattice-like structure advantageously comprises in its total volume a lower volume to be filled with the medium, in particular air, than a very large airbag which must be filled with the medium, in particular air. The lattice-like structure and the large airbag thereby have the same outer dimensions. They thus occupy an equal volume of the inner space of the motor car. If the volume of the lattice-like bag to be filled is lower than the volume to be filled in the conventional, very large airbag with the same volume of the inner space of the motor car being taken up, the lattice-like bag offers the advantage that, with the same support area or with the same support space, it can be enlarged, in particular inflated, in a shorter time to a desired maximum volume.
The lattice-like structure of such a lattice-like airbag is provided achieve an optimal support effect, for example with a shell, in particular a fabric or similar, whereby the inner space of the lattice-like bag delimited by the lattice-like structure and this shell or similar must be filled with the medium, in particular with ambient air. If the valve mechanism according to the invention in used in the lattice-like bag and the shell or similar, the lattice-like structure is formed for example through the adjusting element, in particular through the tube element which can be adjusted in volume, of the valve mechanism and the shell or similar is formed by the at least two layers of the valve mechanism. Therefore, a large mass of the medium, in particular ambient air, can flow through the layers or the passage openings thereof into the inner space and thus guarantee a particularly rapid volume enlargement of the lattice-like bag and a particularly good supporting effect due to the air in the inner space.
In a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention at least one of the cover regions is formed by the adjusting element, in particular the tube element that can be adjusted in volume. This increases the degree of function fulfillment of the adjusting element, as the valve mechanism fulfils the task of activating the valve mechanism and closing, thus sealing, the at least one passage opening and preventing passage of the medium through this passage opening.
The inventive valve mechanism has a very high surface area efficiency and a very high robustness that facilitates a particularly high functional reliability of the valve mechanism and thus of the airbag. It should be noted at this point that the inventive valve mechanism and the activation of the valve mechanism through the adjusting element can be applied to a multitude of applications, in which a valve mechanism is necessary. The inventive valve mechanism thereby facilitates optimal adaptability to different requirements of the respective application.
In the inventive valve mechanism the adjusting element, in particular the tube element which can be adjusted in volume, or possibly a tube structure formed from a plurality of such tube elements, is a constituent part of the valve mechanism and thus improves not only the surface area efficiency and the robustness but also the manufacturability of the valve mechanism. This goes hand-in-hand with cost-effective production and thus low total costs for the inventive valve mechanism.
The first layer and/or the second layer is/are formed, for example, at least substantially from a fabric, wherein the first layer is formed, for example, as a supporting fabric and has two layer elements, through which the adjusting element, in particular the tube element which can be adjusted in volume, is formed. The first and/or the second layer is/are, for example, at least substantially impermeable to the medium.
It should be noted that advantageous embodiments of the inventive valve mechanisms are to be regarded as advantageous embodiments of the airbag according to the invention and vice versa.
Furthermore the invention includes a method for operating a valve mechanism for a medium, in particular for a gaseous medium of an airbag, with a first layer and a second layer that respectively comprise at least one passage opening, the passage openings being at least substantially closed, in a closed position of the valve mechanism, by a corresponding cover region of the other respective layer. The valve mechanism also comprises at least one adjusting element, in particular a tube element that can be adjusted in volume, by means of which, in an at least temporary passage position of the valve mechanism, at least one of the cover regions of the corresponding layer is raised at least in areas from the corresponding passage opening. Advantageous embodiments of the inventive valve mechanism are to be regarded as advantageous embodiments of the method according to the invention and vice versa. The method according to the invention thus allows a through-flow of the valve mechanism by a particularly high mass or quantity of the medium in a particularly short time, which leads in case of the airbag described advantageously to a particularly rapid volume enlargement thereof.
Further advantages, features and details of the invention follow from the following description of a plurality of preferred embodiments and by reference to the drawings. The features and feature combinations mentioned above in the description and the features and feature combinations mentioned below in the description of the drawings and/or shown solely in the drawings can be used not only in the respectively indicated combinations but also in other combinations or alone without going outside of the scope of the invention.